Chapter 26
Zaria all but cleared out the entire armory, there hadn't been much in the room to begin with, but now there would be nothing left. She made her way up to the roof as quickly and as quietly as possible. There wouldn't be much time before someone realized she wasn't in her room as she was sure Steve or Bruce would go looking for her so she had to get out of the tower and on to the plane before that happened. Opening the roof hatch she stepped out onto the helipad and spotted the large plane. She dashed over to it and climbed on only to spot a lone crewman.
"Hey, you're not supposed to be here." He said as he reached over to alert someone.
"I'm sorry…" Zaria said as she flipped a pistol around hit him on the back of the head with the grip; he fell forward upon being hit. She took a moment to feel his neck for a pulse which was steady and normal, before she carefully dragged his body off the place and set it next to the door. Climbing back onto the plane she oriented herself to the controls, started the plane, and took off.
She set the autopilot to the destination in Russia she had found on the map then went in the back and setting up her arsenal for her one man infiltration. She hated to admit that the training she had received from her grandfather was something that did come in handy, but without it she wasn't sure if she would even get past the front door, let alone get all the way into the base and locate the mane she despised. But would she even be in this situation if she had never received the training in the first place? Her mind wandered through the scenarios that could have happened if things had gone differently as she reassembled one of the guns she had taken apart.
As she snapped the magazine back into the gun she sat there, considering if she went in as the person she was taught to be in such situations and clear the room of all enemies or if she went in and tried to harm a little people as possible. Would she even be able to get past the guards if she didn't kill every single person she came across or would they stop her before she reached her destination? She bit her lip as she thought about what she was leaving behind, what she may never see again if this went wrong. She hadn't spoken to Joe since before she gave birth, did he even know she had a daughter now? Had Steve told him or had they just let her vanish again leaving him not knowing what happened to her? Would Steve tell Sarah about her real mother if she died, or would he let Sarah think Peggy was her mother? Would Sarah truly be safe if she killed her grandfather, or would she be safer if Zaria died instead? Was Sarah ever truly going to be safe being as she is the first ever child born as a "super human" or would people find out and always be after her?
Too many questions ran rampant in her mind making her question her choices, her resolve to see this through to the end, but as the plane's autopilot indicated she neared her destination she realized it was too late to question herself. Too late to go back on her resolve, on her choice, so she snapped another magazine into another one of the guns, cocked it, and stuck it in the holster she had for it on her hip as she readied to storm the compound where her grandfather was waiting for her.
There wasn't much of a place for the plane to land, so instead she maneuvered the plane as close to the ground as she could get it without stalling the engines, set the autopilot for a return trip to the tower, opened the back hatch and leapt from the plane, gear and all, into the forest below just as the plane took off for him, closing the hatch as it did; she would have to find another way back. Landing was both easier and more difficult with her new found super strength, making her wonder if she needed to train to get used to it all or if it would eventually fade away and she would return to normal, or as close to normal as she ever actually got.
Zaria puffed up her cheeks and shook her head to clear all the wandering thoughts she had as she needed to focus on the task at hand. She opened the duffle bag she had brought with her and pulled out several small round objects, some high tech stuff that she wasn't really sure what they are and others were simple things like grenades, flash bangs, and smoke grenades. Zipping the bag closed after pocketing several of the round objects she hoisted the bag into her back as she made her way as silently as she could to the compound. She stopped just inside the tree line and made her way around the building to search for any entrances she could use without it being the front door.
The patrols for the building were light, but the only entrance she could see was heavily guarded with multiple guards and large, futuristic-like guns; clearly someone had messed around with some alien technology. Stopping, she stared at the front door and tried to consider her options. The only way she could get into the compound was through the armed guards as there were no other windows or doors but did she tried to take each of them out slowly or did she try and take them all at once? She did have a gun she could use as a sniper rifle if she needed to, but since she had sent the plane back to the tower she wasn't sure how much time she really had before they figured out where she was, so quick was her only option.
Opening her bag she found something that looked like a brass knuckle with attached electrodes like a stun gun and slipped it on and then palm the flash bangs she had pocketed. She rounded to a point where she was as close to the entrance as she could be without being spotted then threw them at the men guarding the door. When they went off she rushed in and used the brass knuckle against any skin she could find that was exposed to knock them out. She worked quickly, taking their guns apart and tossing vital pieces out into the woods before trying to figure out how to dismantle the larger more advanced weaponry. After struggling with it she stepped back and shot each of the guns until they fizzled and smoked. Once everything out front was incapacitated she headed into the interior of the compound.
Fighting to incapacitate someone wasn't Zaria's strong point, she had never been taught how to fight properly without killing, and what she brought with her really wasn't going to help her from not killing people for much longer. The stun gun brass knuckles that she was wearing probably only had a few charges left before it was out, she only had smoke grenades left before she was down to whatever the high tech looking grenades were and regular grenades, then she was left with several different types of guns and knives. She could probably use a pipe as a weapon for knock outs, but if she reach the point where she had to resort to that or the knives it was unlikely she would succeed in the mission as it was doubtful her enemies would allow her to get that close.
Thinking about her low options she snuck up on a guard, wrapped her arm around his neck and stunned him with the knuckles. As she lowered his body down gently and began to dismantle his gun the alarm went off; they knew she was here.
"Where there goes stealth…" She muttered to herself as she pulled out one of the few smoke grenades she had.
Several large men rushed towards her from down the hall. Zaria took a deep breath, pulled the pin on the smoke grenade and tossed it. The small hallway quickly filled with smoke, obscuring line of sight for both Zaria and the mercenaries that had come in. She ducked low and darted forward quickly using that last few charges on her knuckles to knock out the first few guards and when it was empty she let it slide off her hand and hit the floor while she switched to a pistol and began shooting out the legs of the remaining guards to make sure they wouldn't be able to follow her. She had to be efficient with the little ammo she had as she knew it would be expended quickly as she tried to keep the guards alive but incapacitated. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she was trying not to kill people, with the super strength she now possessed she could easily kill them all but she didn't want to be a killer anymore. She didn't want to be like her grandfather. So she made her way through the compound with the intent of saving as many lives as possible as she tried to find the location that her grandfather was being kept at. With yet another expended clip dropping to the floor and digging in her bag with the hopes of finding another one she realized she was running out of options.
"Last clip…" She muttered as she finally pulled out a clip for the pistol. She looked into the bag and realized she was out of nearly everything except the knives and a machine gun; the latter of which wasn't an option for her anymore. She leaned against the wall in the small alcove she had been hiding in as bullets grazed the edge of it and sighed. This was probably the last for her. With her one last clip for the pistol and the guards on alert there would be no way to get close enough to them to use a knife to incapacitate them without being riddled with bullets herself. If she was honest with herself she had hoped this would have happened, she wanted to return alive to her daughter. She wanted to be able to remove the threat that her grandfather posed to her child, but now the mission was looking slim.
Was there a chance that she could hold out until reinforcements arrived? Would anyone even be coming to help her? She couldn't be sure; Steve may be the only one who would want to go and find her while others may count her as a lost cause. Her hands trembled as she clenched the gun tighter. She was afraid of death for the first time in her life, but she had come too far to stop now, the least she could do was lower the number of enemies Steve and the others would have to deal with. If crippling her grandfather's forces was all she could do, then that is was she would do. Steeling her resolve she backed up then ducked and rolled out into the hall, emptying her last clip into the guards who had been firing at her before continuing down the hall.